Nfc mobile wallet processing systems and methods

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the present invention relate to systems, methods, processes, computer program code, and means for employing the wireless or near field communication (“NFC”) functionality of mobile devices and payment terminals for use in payment, loyalty, and offer and coupon transactions.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is based on, and claims benefit and priority of,U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 61/944,987 filed on Feb. 26, 2014, andis a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/731,348filed on Dec. 31, 2012 which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/846,911, filed on Jul. 30, 2010 the contents ofeach of which are incorporated herein in their entirety for allpurposes.

BACKGROUND

Increasingly, mobile devices such as smart phones now include near fieldcommunication (“NFC”) technologies allowing the mobile device to use NFCto communicate with readers, tags and other NFC devices. A number ofpayment schemes have been proposed which allow NFC-enabled mobiledevices to act as payment devices. Unfortunately, these payment schemesgenerally suffer from a number of problems.

It would be desirable to provide methods and systems for employing NFCfeatures of mobile devices for use in payment transactions that solvethese and other problems. Other advantages and features will becomeapparent upon reading the following disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram depicting a payment system configured pursuantto some embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram depicting further details of a payment systemconfigured pursuant to some embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram depicting a customer registration processpursuant to some embodiments.

FIGS. 4-6 are flow diagrams depicting a transaction process pursuant tosome embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram depicting further details of a mobile devicepursuant to some embodiments.

FIG. 8A-8D are illustrative user interfaces for use in the presentinvention.

DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present invention relate to systems, methods,processes, computer program code, and means for employing the wirelessor near field communication (“NFC”) functionality of mobile devices andpayment terminals for use in payment, loyalty, and offer and coupontransactions. In general, embodiments may be deployed in conjunctionwith a system such as that described by the inventors in theirco-pending and commonly assigned applications referenced above in whichmobile devices may be used to conduct transactions by scanning,capturing, retrieving or otherwise entering a code associated with atransaction. Features of some embodiments will be described inconjunction with a payment system in which a mobile device is used toinitiate a transaction at a merchant location (or, in some embodiments,at an automated teller machine, a kiosk, or the like). Moreparticularly, embodiments will be described in which a mobile device maybe used to obtain a checkout token for use in a transaction where thecheckout token is wirelessly communicated to a merchant for use in atransaction. While some embodiments are described herein with referenceto NFC communication between the mobile device and the merchant, in someembodiments, other wireless communication techniques may be used suchas, for example, Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy, Wifi, or the like. Asa result, in some embodiments, the term “NFC” is used herein as anillustrative, but not limiting, communication mode.

Features of the present invention will be described assuming the use ofthe payment systems described in our co-pending applications referencedabove, and the details of those systems will not be fully reiteratedherein. However, embodiments of the present invention are not limited touse in conjunction with the payment systems described in our co-pendingapplications. Instead, the use of NFC functionality as described hereinmay be used with desirable results and benefits in a wide variety ofpayment systems, digital wallets, or the like.

Embodiments of the present invention allow NFC enabled mobile devices toconduct transactions at NFC terminals (such as, for example, NFC paymentterminals operating pursuant to standards such as Visa International's“PayWave”, MasterCard International's “PayPass”, Discover's “Zip”, andAmerican Express' “ExpressPay” standards). Pursuant to some embodiments,such transactions may be made using mobile devices which do not have asecure element. As will become apparent based on the followingdisclosure to those skilled in the art, embodiments of the presentinvention provide a number of desirable benefits, including, forexample: (1) allowing secure NFC transactions using mobile deviceswithout secure elements, (2) allowing the presentation of card linkedoffers to users before they tap their mobile device at the NFC terminal3) enabling a single tap of the mobile device on an NFC terminal toinitiate multiple transactions related to an in-store transactionincluding payment credential selection and delivery, loyalty credentialselection and delivery, and coupon and offer selection and delivery, (4)ensuring that a so-called “high value token” is not stored on the mobiledevice (where a “high value token” is described by the Payment CardIndustry (“PCI”) as any piece of information that can move money from aconsumer's account), (5) compliance with governmental financialguidelines and regulations such as those promulgated by the U.S. FederalFinancial Institutions Examination Council (“FFIEC”) that dictate thatfunds are moved from a consumer's account only in the context of asecure, multi-factor authenticated session, and (6) reducing the amountof integration work that is required to make the present invention workwith an in-store point of sale terminal.

Pursuant to some embodiments, NFC transactions are made possible whichenjoy the above-mentioned desirable benefits using standard NFC mobiledevices, standard NFC terminals, and a standard payment authorizationsystem in conjunction with one or more transaction management systems(such as those described in our co-pending and commonly assignedapplications referenced above).

Pursuant to some embodiments, an NFC enabled mobile device (such as amobile telephone) is operated to transmit a standard NFC message to anNFC terminal. In some embodiments, the NFC message appears to contain avalid payment account number (such as a primary account number or “PAN”)so that the NFC terminal can obtain the number and transmit it throughthe standard payment networks for authorization processing. Pursuant tosome embodiments, the NFC message does not utilize an actual paymentaccount number—instead, a substitute account number is used (referred toherein as a “checkout token” or a “token”). Pursuant to someembodiments, all or a portion of the checkout token transmitted from theNFC enabled mobile device may be information used to route the checkouttoken and other transaction details to an entity such as a transactionmanagement system for further processing. In some cases, informationpassed from the NFC terminal including the checkout token is combinedwith information from the point of sale system, including the amount tobe paid and other details about a particular transaction, as well asinformation identifying the merchant, and other information. Thisinformation is then routed to an authorization entity and is used toauthorize a payment.

For example, the first six digits of the checkout token may be used toidentify the particular entity (such as the operator of a particularinstance of the transaction management system pursuant to the presentinvention) to which the checkout token (and, in some embodiments, othertransaction details) should be routed. For example, the checkout tokenmay be formatted such that it appears to be a standard payment accountnumber (or “PAN”) with the first six digits acting as the bankidentification number (“BIN”) or issuer identification number (“IIN”) orother routing number (e.g., as specified in ISO/IEC 7812, parts 1 and 2or the like). In this manner, the checkout token may be routed to theappropriate entity for further transaction processing using the standardpayment authorization network in communication with a standard NFCterminal and standard retailer systems. In some embodiments, thecheckout token may be formatted as an alphanumeric or other code suchthat it is usable by a merchant or other processing entity to identifythe appropriate entity to route the token.

Features of some embodiments of the present invention will now bedescribed by reference to FIG. 1, which is a block diagram of a system100 pursuant to some embodiments. Further details of the system 100 maybe obtained by reference to our co-pending applications incorporated byreference herein. As shown, a payment account holder, buyer, or otheruser or operator (hereafter, the “customer” or the “user”) may have oruse a mobile device 102 (such as a mobile telephone or the like). Themobile device 102 has a display screen and a data entry device (such asa keypad or touch screen). Pursuant to embodiments of the presentinvention, the customer may use the mobile device 102 to conduct atransaction with a merchant 108 or other entity (such as a bank) via anear field communication (“NFC”) device 104.

The NFC device 104 may be, for example, part of (or a componentassociated with) a point of sale terminal or point of interaction, anautomated teller machine, a kiosk, a mobile point of sale includinganother mobile device, or the like. The merchant may be a physicalstorefront, electronic commerce merchant, or mail order and telephone(“MOTO”) merchant (or another person or entity). Further, the merchantneed not be a “merchant”, but may also be another individual (in thecase of person to person transactions), or a kiosk or other unattendeddevice (such as an automated teller machine (“ATM”) or the like.

Pursuant to some embodiments, the mobile device 102 is an NFC-enabledmobile device such as a mobile telephone having a radio frequencyidentification (“RFID”) chip installed therein (either as a part of themobile telephone's chip set, or installed as an after-market SIM card).As a specific example, the mobile telephone may be an iPhone 6, aGoogle® Nexus S, or a Blackberry® 9600 smartphone each of which haveRFID chips installed therein. Pursuant to some embodiments, the mobiledevice 102 may be operated pursuant to ISO/IEC 18092, NFC IP-1 andISO/IEC 14443 contactless communication standards. Further, the mobiledevice 102 and the NFC reader 104 may interact pursuant to one or moreNFC payment standards (such as the Visa® “PayWave” standard, theDiscover® “Zip” standard, or the like) in which a series of messages maybe transmitted via NFC communication channel 112 between the mobiledevice 102 and the NFC reader 104 to provide a payment account number orother information for use by the NFC reader 104 to facilitate atransaction.

As shown in FIG. 1, the merchant 108 may be in communication with one ormore payment networks 116. In some embodiments, the communicationbetween a merchant 108 and the one or more payment networks 116 may be adirect or indirect communication (e.g., where the merchant 108 is incommunication with the one or more payment networks 116 via one or moreintermediaries such as merchant processors or gateway providers). Forexample, the merchant 108 may transmit payment authorization requestmessages (such as, for example, messages in accordance with ISO Standard8583 or the like) to the payment network 116 for routing to entitiessuch as financial instrument issuers and their agents. Pursuant to someembodiments of the present invention, the merchant 108 may also be incommunication with one or more transaction management systems 130 viathe payment networks 116. Operation of the system pursuant to someembodiments of the present invention will now be described.

A user operating the mobile device 102 approaches a point of transactionto conduct a transaction. The user interacts with a payment applicationon the mobile device 102 to initiate a transaction (or to otherwiseprepare to conduct a transaction). For example, the user (or a point ofsale clerk on behalf of the user) may select an option to “pay withNFC,” “pay with mobile” or the like, or the user may simply tap theirphone on the terminal to initiate a transaction after seeing a prompt onthe terminal to do so or receiving a prompt from the point of saleclerk. The payment application may optionally then prompt the user toauthenticate themselves (e.g., using a password, fingerprint recognitionmodule on the mobile device, iris scan, voiceprint or other techniquessome of which are described in our co-pending and commonly assignedapplications). The authentication process may occur between the mobiledevice 102 and the transaction management system 130 over acommunication link 114. Once the user (and the mobile device 102 in someembodiments) have successfully been authenticated to the transactionmanagement system 130, an identifier (referred to herein as the“checkout token”) is provided to the mobile device 102 from thetransaction management system 130. The checkout token may be, forexample, a transaction identifier, a checkout token, a sessionidentifier, a wallet identifier, a user identifier, or the like. In someembodiments, the “checkout token” (whether it be a transaction, session,wallet, or user identifier) is formatted such that it may be processedor routed using the payment network 116 (as will be described furtherbelow).

In some embodiments, the transaction management system 130 may provideone or more checkout tokens to the mobile device 102 so that additionalcheckout tokens may be cached or otherwise stored for use on the mobiledevice 102 such as in the case where, at the time of transaction, theuser is unable to connect from their mobile device 102 to thetransaction management system 130. In some embodiments, it is possibleto retrieve checkout tokens at any time and in any quantity. In someembodiments, the mobile device 102 may retrieve one or more checkouttokens immediately after completion of a separate transaction for usewith the next transaction, or just before a transaction is initiated.

The mobile device 102 (under control of the payment application) mayprompt the user to tap or present the mobile device 102 at an NFC reader104 to continue the transaction. The NFC chip on the mobile device 102causes information to be passed to the NFC reader 104 over NFCcommunication path 112. Such information includes, for example, thecheckout token. In some embodiments, the checkout token is passed to theNFC reader 104 using a standard messaging protocol supported by the NFCreader 104. For example, the checkout token may be transmitted to theNFC reader 104 in a message data field used for the PAN, in a messagedata field used for track data, or in other data fields supported by thestandard messaging protocol.

In some embodiments, the message data captured by the NFC reader 104 iscombined with transaction data collected by the merchant 108 and themerchant 108 creates a standard payment authorization (or other standardpayment message) request message for transmission to a payment network116. In some embodiments, the transaction data and the NFC message dataare combined together in a single device, such as a desktop paymentterminal like a Verifone VX570 or the like, a mobile point of saledevice including devices that enable magnetic stripe and EMVtransactions to be performed using a mobile device such as the devicesfrom companies like PayPal®, Square®, and others, or a mobile device forperson to person transactions, or the like.

The payment network 116 (or an acquirer processor or other entityassociated with the payment network 116), analyzes the request messageand determines that the message should be routed to the transactionmanagement system 130 (the system that issued the checkout token). Thisrouting determination may be made at or by any of a number of differentdevices or entities, including, for example, at a payment terminal, at aretailer system (such as at the point of transaction, point of sale, orat a retailer payment switch), at a payment gateway, at a merchantprocessor system, at a payment network, or at a payment card issuersystem (or any other system capable of reading information that wouldnormally be passed on by the payment terminal to enable authorization ofa payment transaction). In some embodiments, the routing determinationmay be made by the merchant system 109, e.g., by consulting a BIN tableor other routing table and comparing values in a BIN table or otherrouting table to values in the checkout token or other data that iscommunicated from the mobile device 102 along with the checkout token tothe merchant system 109.

In some embodiments, the merchant, processor or other entity may addadditional information to the request message including, for example, amerchant identifier, a terminal identifier, a time stamp, a date stamp,or the like.

To determine where to route the request message, the processor or entitymay look for information such as the PAN in the message (e.g., toidentify whether the PAN falls within a range of PANs that would signifythat the message should be routed to the transaction management system130 to complete the authorization), or the BIN or IIN portion of thePAN, information in the track data that is passed as part of themessage, or other data that is passed as part of the message. In someembodiments, the checkout token may not contain a conventional numericPAN, but may instead contain an alphanumeric identifier, or anidentifier containing any set of characters. In some embodiments, use ofa conventional numeric PAN is desirable since many payment transactionrouting methods and systems make routing decisions based on informationcontained in a PAN.

If the processor or entity detects that the request message should berouted to a transaction management system 130 by, for example, seeingthat the message includes a PAN that falls within a range of PANsallocated to the operator of the transaction management system 130(which can also be thought of as the authorizing entity for the requestmessage), then the message is routed to that transaction managementsystem 130. In some embodiments, different values contained in acheckout token may be used to represent different routing paths. As anillustrative example, routing rules and processing may be configuredsuch that a value of “1111” found in a checkout token could indicaterouting to a first transaction management system and the value of “1211”in a checkout token would indicate routing to a second transactionmanagement system different from the first transaction management system(where the first and second transaction management systems could beoperated by or on behalf of different entities or be different devicesor systems operated by or on behalf of the same entity).

The checkout token included in the message is extracted and used by thetransaction management system 130 to find a match with an existingidentifier associated with an active mobile wallet session (establishedwhen the user operated the mobile device to perform the initialauthentication). When a match occurs, the transaction management system130 then performs processing as described in our co-pending applicationsreferenced above and the user is presented with information such as, forexample: an amount due, a merchant name, a list of available paymentinstruments, a list of available offers, and perhaps a button to selectto confirm the transaction.

When the user interacts with the mobile device 102 to select a paymentinstrument, the transaction management system 130 creates anauthorization message and routes it to the appropriate authorizingentity for that payment instrument (such as the issuer of that specificpayment instrument). When the transaction management system 130 receivesa successful authorization, the transaction management system 130 thensends an authorization success message to the processor (the merchantacquirer, payment network, issuer, or the like) that originally passedthe request message to the transaction management system 130. Uponreceipt of the message from the transaction management system 130, theprocessor then passes a successful authorization message back up thechain of processors such that the merchant ultimately receives anauthorization message and the transaction concludes.

One other benefit of some embodiments of the present invention is thatthe operator of the mobile device 102 could still complete a paymenttransaction even if the operator of the mobile device 102 does not havean active session in place with the transaction management system 130.This might be the case if the user was unable to get Wifi or3G/4G/cellular connectivity from their mobile device 102, for example.

In some embodiments, such as when the transaction management system 130receives a message (with a checkout token) from a merchant system 109and the transaction management system 130 is unable to match thecheckout token with an active session (or pending transaction record),the transaction management system 130 may first determine if thecheckout token received was a valid checkout token. In some embodiments,a checkout token's validity may be determined by looking at a number ofdata values that may include (but are not be limited to) the presence ofthe token in a list of issued and outstanding checkout tokens,determining if the checkout token had expired based on time to livevalues assigned to the token, the presence of a valid digital signatureor other value created when the NFC radio on the mobile device 102interacted with the NFC reader 104, the identity of the merchant 108,information identifying the mobile device 102 used in the transaction,the amount of the transaction, the time of day, a security profileassociated with the merchant 108, a security profile associated with thedevice, and other factors.

Assuming that the checkout token was determined to be valid, thetransaction management system 130 could create an authorization messageusing a default payment credential, since the absence of an activesession with the user means that the user would not be able to providethe transaction management system 130 with a selection in real time. Oneor more default payment instruments may be specified by the user as partof the signup process for a service based on the present invention (asdescribed in conjunction with FIG. 3). Multiple default instrumentsmight be specified, since some merchants might not accept the users“preferred” default instrument such as an American Express card. Inaddition, the user might specify rules describing which paymentinstrument or instruments should be selected based on the amount of thepurchase, the merchant, the instrument that maximizes loyalty pointsearned, the instrument that results in the lowest price for the user, ora number of other factors. These and other factors may be evaluatedseparately or in combination to come up with the best selection ofpayment instrument for the user. With this method, a user might specifythat if a gift card balance exists for a gift card that can be used fora particular transaction at a particular merchant, then the gift cardbalance should be exhausted with any remaining outstanding amount to beapplied against the customer's preferred credit card. In this way, evenwithout an active session and without interactively specifying whichinstruments to use to pay for a transaction, a split tender/multi-tendertransaction can be completed.

Processing would then proceed as described above. The transactionmanagement system 130 would then create an authorization message for oneor more of the default payment instruments to be sent to an authorizingentity, and would route the authorization or decline message(s) to theprocessor, which would then pass the authorization or decline message(s)back up the chain of processors such that the merchant 108 ultimatelyreceives one or more authorization and/or decline messages and thetransaction concludes.

Another benefit of the current invention is that a user could see whichpayment instrument(s) had associated card linked offers that would beapplicable to a pending transaction. This would be helpful to the usersince with current payment solutions that utilize magnetic stripe cards,or NFC or other mechanisms to associate a mobile user, mobile device,and or a payment instrument identifier stored on a mobile device with apending transaction at a point of sale, there is not an ability to showthe user which payment instruments have card linked offers that arevalid at the merchant where the user has a pending transaction beforethe user selects the payment instruments to use to pay for thetransaction.

Card linked offers are typically selected by a user to be affiliatedwith a particular payment instrument using a user interface provided bythe issuer of a payment card in an online account management system.This is done in advance of any payment transaction, and it is frequentlythe case that the user does not remember when deciding which paymentinstrument(s) to use to pay for a particular transaction whether thereare any offers associated with the instrument, and the terms associatedwith each offer, such as which merchant(s) an offer would apply to, andwhat other terms and conditions of the offer need to be satisfied suchas the amount of the transaction, time of day, SKU's associated withgoods that need to be purchased, locations where the offer is valid,etc.

This is possible in embodiments of the present invention because thetransaction management system 130 can have real time access to the listof any offers that are tied to a particular payment instrument, and bycomparing meta data associated with the offer—including but not limitedto the name of the merchant(s) where the offer is valid, the location(s)of the merchant(s) where the offer is valid, the offer terms—such as thedates when the offer is valid, the minimum transaction size, the itemdescriptions (which could include SKU numbers or other identifiers) thatthe user must purchase for the offer to be valid and applicable to aparticular transaction, the type of user of the present invention (basedon a user segmentation scheme or persona that may include the user'sage, location, purchase history and any other demographic, psychographicor behavioral data) for which the offer is valid)—to meta data about thetransaction such as the merchant name, location, etc., the transactionmanagement system 130 can provide the user of a mobile device 102 with avisual indicator associated with each payment instrument to show theuser that a payment instrument has affiliated card linked offers. Inaddition, the transaction management system 130 could provideinformation to the mobile device 102 to display to the user a list ofthe offers including the reward the user receives when the offer isredeemed such as the amount off the purchase, loyalty points earned, orother reward, as well as provide access to a full list of the terms andconditions associated with the offer. In the case where there aremultiple card linked offers that could be redeemed as part of atransaction, the present invention can also present the user with aninterface allowing them to select which of the available offers shouldbe redeemed as part of the transaction. In this way, embodiments of thepresent invention can help users make more informed purchase decisionsby helping users know before they select one or more payment instrumentswhich payment instrument(s) have associated card linked offers that arevalid for a particular pending transaction.

It should be noted as described in our other co-pending applicationsthat offers may also be tied to the mobile wallet application and arenot necessarily be affiliated in all cases to a payment instrument. Cardlinked offers pre-date the arrival of mobile device based payment andmobile wallet solutions. In the case of mobile wallet or mobileapplication based offers, the issuer of the mobile wallet applicationmight provide an interface for users to choose the offers that theywanted to be able to redeem when using a particular mobile walletapplication. In this way, the offers would be affiliated or linked withthe wallet and not a particular payment instrument or payment instrumentissuer. This approach has the advantage of enabling offers to be appliedto purchases regardless of which payment instrument or paymentinstruments the user chooses to use to pay for a particular transaction.Just as card linked offers and the number and variety of offers madeavailable are a key means for credit card issuers to differentiate theirofferings, so too will wallet linked offers become a key means fordifferent wallet issuers to differentiate their offerings. In anycase—card linked or wallet linked offers—the transaction managementsystem 130 would have access to metadata about offers as describedabove. This could be a centralized store of information about bothwallet linked and card linked offers, or it could be a decentralizeddata store. In the case of a decentralized data store of offer metadata, information stored about payment instruments might contain a linkto a separate data store perhaps controlled by a payment instrumentissuer that would provide on demand access the details about the numberof offers associated with a payment instrument, and the key terms andconditions associated with each offer. In this way, payment instrumentissuers could retain control over data stores containing offer metadata, and operators of transaction management systems 130 would not haveto ensure that data was always synchronized between the paymentinstrument issuer's repository of offer meta data and the repositorymaintained by the operator of the transaction management system 130.

Further details of some aspects of a system according to someembodiments of the present invention will now be described by referenceto FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example payment systemnetwork environment showing communication paths between a mobile device202, merchants 208, transaction management system 230 and paymentprocessing systems 232. Mobile device 202 may be, for example, an NFCenabled mobile telephone, PDA, personal computer, or the like. Forexample, mobile device 202 may be a mobile device having an RFID chipinstalled therein allowing the device to be operated pursuant to ISO/IEC18092, NFC IP-1 or the ISO/IEC 14443 contactless communicationstandards, or other applicable contactless communication standards andwireless technologies including but not limited to those emerging forBluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). Further, the mobile device 202may be operated to interact with an NFC reader pursuant to one or moreNFC payment standards. Pursuant to some embodiments, mobile device 202may operate a payment application allowing mobile device 202 to operateas a payment device as described herein. In some embodiments, mobiledevice 202 is capable of accessing and displaying Web content orotherwise accessing the Internet so that a customer operating mobiledevice 202 may interact with transaction management system 230 toinitiate a transaction via a Web interface.

Mobile device 202 of FIG. 2 can, for example, communicate over one ormore wired and/or wireless networks 201. As an example, a wirelessnetwork can be a cellular network (represented by a cell transmitter215). A mobile device 202 may communicate over a cellular or otherwireless network and through a gateway 216 and then communicate with anetwork 214 (e.g., such as the Internet or other public or privatenetwork). An access point, such as access point 218 may be provided tofacilitate data and other communication access to network 214. Accesspoint 218 may be, for example, compliant with the 802.11g, Bluetooth (orother) communication standards. For example, in embodiments in which amobile device 202 is operating a payment application which allows mobiledevice 202 to function as a payment device pursuant to the invention,the payment application may cause or control communication of datathrough network 201 to transaction management system 230.

In some embodiments, mobile device 202 may engage in both voice and datacommunications over wireless network 214 via access point 218. Forexample, mobile device 202 may be able to place or receive phone calls,send and receive emails, send and receive short message service (“SMS”)messages, send and receive email messages, access electronic documents,send and receive streaming media, or the like, over the wireless networkthrough access point 218. Similar communications may be made via network215.

In some embodiments, a mobile device 202 may also establishcommunication by other means, such as, for example, wired connectionswith networks, peer-to-peer communication with other devices (e.g.,using Bluetooth networking, Bluetooth Low Energy or the like), etc.Mobile device 202 can, for example, communicate with one or moreservices over networks 201, such as the transaction management system230 (to conduct payment transactions, to create, edit, view or otherwisemodify payment account settings and preferences, etc.), access couponsand offers, the Web 240, and other services 242. Mobile device 202 canalso access other data over the one or more wired and/or wirelessnetworks 201. For example, content providers, such as news sites, RSSfeeds, web sites, blogs, social networking sites, developer networks,etc., can be accessed by mobile device 202. Such access can be providedby invocation of a web browsing function or application (e.g., abrowser) in response to a customer launching a Web browser applicationinstalled on mobile device 202. In some embodiments, a user may utilizea Web browser to interact with transaction management system 230 toregister payment accounts, establish account preferences, performpayment transactions, etc.

Mobile device 202 has a display screen 236 and a data entry device 238(such as a keypad or touch screen, or voice interface). Pursuant toembodiments of the present invention, the customer may use the mobiledevice 202 to conduct a purchase transaction with a merchant 208.Merchant 208 may be a physical storefront, electronic commerce merchant,or MOTO merchant (or another person or entity). Mobile device 202, insome embodiments, also has a camera (not shown) or other image capturedevice which allows the mobile device 202 to capture an image orrepresentation of a checkout token 210 (e.g., allowing the mobile device202 to conduct payment transactions as described in our co-pendingapplication referenced above). Pursuant to some embodiments, asdescribed further herein, the mobile device 202 is also able to capture,obtain or generate a checkout token which may be communicated to amerchant 208 via NFC communication, or via other wireless technologiessuch as Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy, Wifi, or audio.

Merchant 208 may operate one or more merchant systems 209 to processpayments and transactions, including, as will be described, paymenttransactions pursuant to the present invention (as well as “traditional”or standard payment transactions involving cash, standard payment cards,or the like). Merchant system 209 may be a networked point of salesystem (such as for a physical retail location) or it may be a shoppingcart system (such as for an electronic commerce or Internet retaillocation). Merchant system 209 may further be a combination of systemsdesigned to allow a merchant to accept payments for goods or services.In some embodiments, merchant system 209 may be in communication withone or more point of sale devices 212 which have display devices 213 forpresenting and receiving information from customers. For example, in thesituation where the merchant 208 is a physical retail location, amerchant system 209 may be in communication with a number of differentpoint of sale devices 212 each of which is located at a differentcheckout lane or location within the store (or in different stores indifferent geographical locations). Each of the point of sale devices 212may present, display, or communicate transaction information tocustomers at the point of sale (or “POS”) so that the customer canapprove or authorize purchases and present payment for the purchases.Pursuant to some embodiments, as described further herein, a POS device212 may include an NFC reader device allowing NFC communication betweena mobile device 202 and POS device 212. In other embodiments, the POSdevice 212 may include a Bluetooth or Bluetooth Low Energy or otherwireless communication module enabling communications between a mobiledevice 202 and POS device 212.

As another example, where the merchant 208 is an Internet or otherelectronic commerce merchant, the merchant system 209 may be a Webserver (or a network of servers, some of which may be Internetaccessible) configured to process purchase transactions associated withmerchant 208. Point of sale devices 212, in such an example, may be anumber of remote terminals interacting with merchant system 209 such as,for example, personal computers, mobile devices, or the like that areable to interact with the merchant system 209 via a network such as theInternet. Because embodiments of the present invention are capable ofinitiating and conducting transactions for both physical and remotetypes of merchants, the point of sale, point of purchase, or interactionbetween a buyer and merchant may be referred to as the “point of sale”herein.

The display device 213 could be an LCD (or other display technologies)display (e.g., such as those currently available at many merchants insystems such as the Hypercom 4150 terminal, or the Verifone MX870terminal or the like). The use of the checkout token 210 in transactionspursuant to the present invention will be described further below. Ingeneral, however, the checkout token 210 is used by the transactionmanagement system 230 to match a payment request from a mobile device202 with a payment authorization request from the merchant 208 tocomplete a payment transaction using information stored at, oraccessible to, the transaction management system 230.

In a typical example transaction, a customer may purchase products orservices from the merchant 208 by first selecting mobile payment as apayment option, performing an authentication process with a paymentapplication on a mobile device 202 (or via a Web browser interactingwith transaction management system 230), obtaining or generating acheckout token 210, communicating the checkout token 210 (via an NFCcommunication) to the merchant 208, receiving transaction details and apayment account list or list of preferred or eligible accounts from thetransaction management system 230, selecting a payment option on themobile device 202, and submitting a customer payment authorizationrequest to a transaction management system 230 over a network 201.

The selection of a payment option involves receiving informationidentifying one or more payment accounts available to the customer. Theavailable payment accounts may be those specified by the customer duringa registration process such as the process described further below inconjunction with FIG. 3. Pursuant to some embodiments, the presentationof the different payment account options may include applying one ormore rules or preferences to a list of available payment accounts sothat the customer is presented with the account(s) that are best suitedor available for the current transaction. The customer selects thepayment account (or accounts, in the case of a split tender transaction)to use and the information is transmitted to the transaction managementsystem 230. In some embodiments, all of the customer's available paymentaccounts may be displayed to the customer after the customer has beenauthenticated. In some embodiments, the transaction management system230 may select the best payment account or accounts to use to completethe transaction based on preferences specified by the user. This isespecially useful in situations where the user's mobile device 202cannot connect to external systems like the transaction managementsystem 230.

In some embodiments, the list of accounts later received from thetransaction management system (after it processes the customertransaction lookup request) may include additional metadata orinformation associated with each payment account (e.g., such as thecurrent available account balance, any special offers available if theaccount is used in the current transaction, etc.). In some embodiments,the list of accounts later received from the transaction managementsystem may include fewer accounts based on the application of rules atthe transaction management system (e.g., such as the application of oneor more customer, merchant or system rules). For example, a rule mayspecify that a specific payment account not be used for low dollar valuetransactions. In such a case, that specific payment account would not beincluded in the list of accounts sent from the transaction managementsystem in response to the customer transaction lookup request. Putanother way, the list of payment accounts received from the transactionmanagement system after it processes the customer transaction lookuprequest may be a subset of all the accounts the customer has registered.

After the merchant 208 receives the checkout token from the mobiledevice 202 (via the NFC communication link between the mobile device 202and the NFC reader), the merchant 208 transmits a merchant paymentauthorization request message to the transaction management system 230over a network 220. Pursuant to some embodiments, the routing of themessage to the transaction management system 230 includes mapping to oridentifying the transaction management system 230 by using the checkouttoken (e.g., based on the BIN, PAN or other information in or associatedwith the checkout token received from the mobile device 202). Thetransaction management system 230 matches the customer paymentauthorization request (received from the mobile device 202 over network201) with the merchant payment authorization request (received from themerchant 208 over network 220) by using the checkout token 210.

In some embodiments, the transaction management system 230 thentransmits a customer payment confirmation request message to thecustomer's mobile device 202, enabling the customer to have a finalopportunity to confirm or cancel the payment transaction. For example,the customer may be prompted to “confirm” or “cancel” the paymenttransaction. The prompt may provide additional information about thetransaction and the selected payment account so the customer can havedetailed information about the transaction before selecting “confirm” or“cancel”. In some embodiments, customers may be given the opportunity toset preferences or otherwise configure the mobile payment application toenable or disable certain messages or transaction steps. As a specificexample, customers may be given the opportunity to receive (or notreceive) customer payment confirmation request messages.

Once the final confirmation to proceed with the payment has beenreceived from the customer's mobile device 202, the transactionmanagement system 230 creates an authorization approval request messagefor transmission through one or more payment processing network(s) 232to cause the authorization, clearing and settlement of funds for thetransaction. This request message includes the transaction details, suchas the amount of the transaction or other information, from the merchantpayment authorization request (received from the merchant 208) and theactual payment credentials associated with the payment account selectedby the customer. The actual payment credentials may be obtained by usingthe payment account selection information and performing a lookup ofactual payment account credentials previously stored in a database orlocation accessible to the transaction management system 230. Theauthorization approval processing may be performed using standardfinancial authorization processing over one or more payment processingnetworks 232 (e.g., such as the VISANET® network operated by Visa, Inc.,an Automated Clearing House system such as NACHA, PayPal®, or the like).Once the availability of funds is confirmed, the transaction managementsystem then sends a merchant payment authorization response message tothe merchant 208 so the transaction can be completed at the point ofsale 212, and a customer payment authorization response message to thecustomer's mobile device 202.

Pursuant to some embodiments, before a customer can use a mobile device(such as the mobile device 202 of FIG. 2) to conduct a purchasetransaction using the present invention, the customer must perform aregistration process such as the process described in conjunction withFIG. 3. Data collected or provided in association with the process 300may be stored at or be accessible to one or more databases associatedwith the transaction management system 230.

The registration process 300 of FIG. 3 begins when a customer first (at302) interacts with a registration server (which may be a component of,or related to, transaction management system 230 of FIG. 2) to initiatea registration process. For example, the customer may operate anInternet browser (either on a mobile device or another computing device)to access a registration Web page associated with the registrationserver. The registration Web page may request the customer provide someidentifying information to begin the account creation process. Forexample, a customer may provide name, address and other contactinformation as well as contact preferences, including one or more emailaddresses and phone numbers. A customer identifier or other uniquerecord (or records) may be established in a database and may be used touniquely identify the customer. The customer identifier may be analphanumeric identifier assigned by the transaction management system230 or may be information based on or provided by the customer (e.g.,such as a mobile phone number or identifier associated with a mobiledevice 202).

Processing continues at 304 where the customer establishes an account.In some embodiments, the account creation includes providing contact andidentifying information associated with the customer, as well asinformation identifying one or more mobile device(s) from which thecustomer wishes to make transactions. Each mobile device 202 may, forexample, be identified by its phone number and/or other uniqueidentifier(s) (such as a hardware serial number, an ASIN, a UUID in thecase of an iPhone, a component serial number such as a CPU serialnumber, a unique identifier created from a series of configurationsettings on the device, or the like). In some embodiments, where thecustomer registers from a browser on their mobile device, or by firstdownloading a payment application having a registration module ontotheir mobile device, the system may capture unique identifyinginformation associated with the mobile device (e.g., such as a hardwareserial number, an ASIN, a UUID or other device identifiers).

Processing continues at 306 where the customer provides informationabout one or more payment devices or payment accounts that the customerwishes to have associated with the payment system of the presentinvention. For example, the customer may enter information about one ormore credit cards, debit cards, gift cards, bank accounts, checkingaccounts, or the like. The information about each account includes theactual payment credentials or sufficient information to process atransaction using the account. For example, with respect to a credit ordebit card, the information may include: the primary account number (orPAN), the expiry date, and the verification code. With respect to a bankaccount, the information may include: the routing number and the accountnumber. Other information, such as bank or issuer information may alsobe entered at 306. Some or all of the information may be stored in oneor more fields of one or more database tables accessible by thetransaction management system.

Processing at 306 may also include processing for the customer toprovide information about loyalty accounts, membership accounts, rewardaccounts or the like, as well as information used by the transactionmanagement system to manage offers or discounts available to thecustomer. For example, the customer may also register one or morediscounts or offers in an offer database, and/or one or more loyaltyprogram accounts stored in one or more databases accessible to thetransaction management system. In some embodiments, the discounts oroffers stored or accessible in a database may be “clipped” or “accepted”by the customer by browsing a set of offers or discounts available tothe customer (e.g., by interacting with an offer or discount selectionsystem on their mobile device, or via a Web browser). Once an offer ordiscount has been accepted by the customer, details of the offer ordiscount may be stored in one or more database records associated withthe customer. Each offer or discount may be identified by an offeridentifier and be associated with the customer (e.g., via a useridentifier and a specific mobile device identifier) and may have offerdetails, preferences or rules, other offer metadata, and possibly abalance.

During the customer registration process (and subsequently, duringaccount update transactions), the customer may provide information aboutone or more loyalty or reward accounts that the customer wishes to makeavailable via their mobile device. This account information may bestored in a database accessible to the transaction management system.For example, each loyalty account associated with a customer (e.g. via auser identifier and/or a specific mobile device identifier) may haveaccount details and one or more rules or preferences associated with theuse of the loyalty account.

Pursuant to some embodiments, the data associated with the actualpayment accounts of a customer are securely stored in a PCI compliantdatabase. In some embodiments, by securely storing payment card data(including expiry date and verification codes), payments made using thepresent invention may qualify for reduced interchange as “card present”transactions. Pursuant to some embodiments, a customer may add, removeor update account information as needed.

As an illustrative example, a customer may enter information aboutseveral loyalty or reward accounts, such as a Kroger shopping cardnumber, a CVS discount card number, and a Groupon account number andpassword. Other information may be provided to allow the identificationand access to one or more loyalty, reward or other accounts associatedwith the customer. By providing this account information, the customeris able to access or interact with the registered loyalty or rewardaccounts using the mobile wallet as will be described further below. Thecustomer may also provide information identifying one or more discountsor offers. This information may be provided during processing at 306, orit may be provided during subsequent processing in which the customerclips or otherwise selects from a variety of offers or discounts thatare available. Once the customer has clipped or otherwise selected anoffer, details of the offer may be associated with the customer'saccount information and be accessible to the transaction managementsystem during transaction processing of the present invention.

Processing continues at 308 where the customer may optionally establishone or more preferences or rules associated with the use of one or moreof the accounts entered at 306. For example, the customer may designateone of the accounts as the “primary” or default account. Other rules andpreferences may also be set to enable accounts to be selected and usedin an efficient and logical manner. For example, a customer may specifypriorities or other account-based rules to indicate how a particularpayment account should be treated with respect to other paymentaccounts. A customer may also specify spend limitations or balancerequirements that govern how and when a payment account is to bepresented as an option. A customer may also specify the order in whichaccounts are displayed on the mobile phone, based on what merchant theyare purchasing from, or the funds available in each account, or therewards received for using each account.

In some embodiments, a rule (such as a customer-specified rule), maycause a payment process to proceed more quickly, or with fewer customersteps, or how to handle payment account selection if the mobile device202 cannot connect to the transaction management system 230 to enablethe customer to interactively specify the payment account(s) to use tocomplete a transaction. For example, a customer may specify that whenmaking a purchase (or a certain type of purchase, such as a purchasebelow a certain dollar amount) at a specific merchant, that a defaultpayment account be used. In such situations, a purchase transactionusing the present invention may proceed without need for the customer toselect or confirm the selection of a payment account—it is doneautomatically by application of the customer-specified rule.

For example, in some embodiments, the customer may have specified one ormore “autopay” preferences which are applied when certain transactionconditions apply. As an illustrative example, a customer may havespecified that a specific credit card (registered for use in the mobilepayment system) is to be used whenever the customer uses the mobilepayment system to conduct transactions. In the event that such an“autopay” preference is established, the customer need not select aspecific payment account for use in individual transactions; instead,the default (or “autopay”) account is automatically selected by themobile payment system and used for the transaction. As another example,the customer may specify one or more autopay preferences fortransactions that meet specific conditions. As an illustrative example,a customer who has a Starbucks prepaid card may specify that theStarbucks prepaid card be used as the default payment account for anytransaction at any Starbucks store. In such an embodiment, the fact thata transaction is being conducted at a Starbucks store may be determinedbased on information obtained during the transaction (e.g., such as frominformation received by the transaction management system from themerchant after the merchant receives a checkout token from the mobiledevice). In some embodiments, information received from the mobiledevice may also be used to identify the merchant or location (such as,for example, using location information received from the mobiledevice). The merchant information is then compared to stored preferenceinformation and rules, and a determination is made that the customer hasspecified an autopay rule that applies to the transaction at Starbucksand that the rule indicates that the transaction should be completedusing the Starbucks prepaid card.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate, upon reading this disclosure,that a wide variety and type of account-level rules may be specified toallow a customer to manage how (and when) payment accounts are presentedas payment options. Further, the transaction management system may alsostore information associated with other levels or types of rules thatare applied to transactions to determine which payment account(s) areavailable for use in any given transaction. For example, in someembodiments, a hierarchy of rules may be defined which include a globalset of rules defined by (i) a partner or entity operating the system ofthe present invention, (ii) issuing partners participating in thesystem, (iii) acceptance partners participating in the system, (iv)customers of the system, (v) specific devices of customers of thesystem, (vi) acceptance locations (or merchant locations) participatingin the system, and (vii) acceptance points (or specific point of saledevices) participating in the system. For example, an operator of thepresent invention may specify the types of payment tender that may besupported by the system (e.g., the operator may configure the system toallow credit card and debit card payment accounts, but to not supportACH transactions). In some embodiments, these partner level rules may beinherited by all of the other (child) entities by default (e.g., apartner rule that ACH transactions are not supported is inherited by allparticipants in that partner's system). These hierarchical rules may bestored at or accessible by the transaction management system and may beenforced during transactions such that for a given transaction, multiplerules may be consulted prior to determining which of a customer's set ofregistered payment accounts is available for use in a specifictransaction at a specific merchant and point of sale device. Thoseskilled in the art will also recognize that the databases accessible tothe transaction management system storing information about paymentaccounts, loyalty accounts, coupons, offers, and payment rules may becontrolled and managed by entities other than the entity controlling andmanaging the transaction management system 230.

As more specific illustrative examples, a set of rules may be defined byan issuer of the mobile payment application. The issuer may define whichtender types are supported by the mobile payment application, as well asmetadata around each supported tender type, which can be used to drivebusiness rules when a customer adds payment accounts to theirpreferences and when the customer conducts transactions using the mobilepayment application. The customers and the mobile devices associatedwith the issuer inherit these issuer rules by default, and the issuercan define in which order the tender rules will appear on mobile devicesat different acceptance partners. These tender rules and ordering rulescan be defined by the items involved in a transaction, the totalpurchase amount of a transaction, offers, discounts or loyalty accountsassociated with a transaction, etc.

As described herein, customers can define customer-specific rules withinthe rules of their issuer. For example, customers can associate specificpayment instruments/accounts with specific merchants (or acceptancepartners) and locations. For example, a customer may set a rule toalways use their Target Red Card when making purchases at any Targetlocation. Customers can also define rules around devices. For example, acustomer can define what payment accounts or instruments are availablefor each mobile device associated with their account or wallet. Acustomer could, for example, have two or more mobile devices associatedwith the system of the present invention, and one of those mobiledevices could have rules associated with it that allow it to only beused with one set of payment accounts, while a second mobile devicecould have a different set of payment accounts associated with it. As aspecific, illustrative example, a parent could have a primary mobiledevice for their use, and a secondary mobile device for a child's use.The customer may also establish one or more rules associated withpurchase thresholds and other usage parameters as described herein.

Merchants (or acceptance partners) can establish rules regarding whichtenders are accepted within the rules set at the issuer level. Forexample, a merchant may establish rules regarding discounts and specialoffers associated with specific tender types. For example, a merchantmay define a rule that for purchases greater than $50, a customer willreceive a $10 discount if the merchant's gift card is used. Thesemerchant or acceptance partner rules may be automatically inherited byacceptance locations and acceptance points of the merchant. In someembodiments, acceptance locations and acceptance points may overridethese rules and define their own rules of acceptance within the universeof allowed tenders set by the issuer or the merchant.

As a specific illustrative example of this hierarchical application ofrules, an example of a customer process to add a new payment accountwill now be presented. In the example, the issuer of the mobile paymentapplication has defined or established a set of rules relating to thesupported tender types of mobile applications issued by the issuer. Theset of rules is stored at, or accessible to, the transaction managementsystem in one or more databases which include one or more lists ofsupported tender account types (e.g., credit, debit, gift, or the like)and tender network types (e.g., Visa®, MasterCard®, American Express®,Discover®, or the like). When a customer attempts to add a paymentaccount to their list of payment accounts, the transaction managementsystem retrieves the relevant tender type policy from the issuer, andthe system determines whether the new payment account satisfies thepolicy rules. For example, if an issuer specifies that the Diners Club®network is not supported, and if the customer attempts to add a DinersClub payment account to their list of accounts, the transactionmanagement system may alert the customer that the account cannot beadded. By allowing such a hierarchical application of rules, preferencesand policies, embodiments allow improved selection of payment accounts,discounts, loyalty accounts and other transaction controls duringtransactions involving the present invention.

In an illustrative example, a customer may specify the following accountpreferences: (i) reduce the use of credit, and (ii) reduce transactionfees. As a further illustrative example, the customer may also specifyrules to be applied when specific payment accounts are analyzed for usein a given transaction: (i) a Starbucks gift card balance should be usedwhere possible (having been assigned the highest priority), (ii) achecking account or the debit card associated with the checking accountshould be used as the second highest priority (and further, to specifynot to use the checking account if a transaction would reduce herbalance to below $1,000), and (iii) a credit card should be the finalpayment option, having the lowest priority.

When a customer, in an illustrative example, uses a mobile device toconduct a transaction using the present invention, the transactionmanagement system will compare the rules and preferences the customerhas specified to the details of the transaction to recommend whichpayment account(s) are available for the transaction. For example, ifthe customer uses the mobile device to purchase a cup of coffee atStarbucks, the transaction management system will inform the customerthat the payment account associated with Starbucks (e.g., a Starbucksgift card) may be used for the purchase. In this manner, customershaving a variety of payment accounts may be presented with choices ofpayment options that are based on their overall preferences and usageobjectives. Further, a payment account that is unavailable or unsuitablefor a particular transaction may be identified as such by thetransaction management system so that the customer need not be presentedwith that payment account as an option (e.g., if a customer ispurchasing gas at a gas station, the customer's Starbucks gift card willnot be available as a payment option for that transaction). Furtherdetails of how payment accounts are presented to a customer during atransaction are provided below in conjunction with FIG. 5.

In some embodiments, processing may continue at 310 if the customeroperates or uses mobile devices that are capable of operating anapplication that is associated with the present invention (such as aniPhone® or an Android® phone or Windows® phone). At 310, the customer isprompted to download and install an application on their mobile device.The application allows the customer to operate their mobile device toquickly and easily conduct payment transactions pursuant to the presentinvention. For phones or devices that are not capable of running such anapplication, a link or Web page may be created or provided to thecustomer that may be accessed via a mobile phone browser, so that thecustomer can conduct payment transactions pursuant to the presentinvention.

Once a customer has established an account and registered one or morepayment accounts (and, optionally, one or more loyalty, reward or otheraccounts and/or information about desired offers and discounts) with thetransaction management system, the customer may utilize the system ofthe present invention to conduct purchase transactions at merchants thatsupport transactions of the present invention.

An illustrative transaction process 400 will now be described inconjunction with FIGS. 4-6 (while also referring to the components ofsystem 200 of FIG. 2). FIG. 4 depicts a transaction process from theperspective of a merchant (such as merchant 208), FIG. 5 depicts atransaction process from the perspective of a mobile device (such asmobile device 202), and FIG. 6 depicts a transaction process from theperspective of transaction management system (such as system 230 of FIG.2). In general, the three transaction processes are performed inparallel or in conjunction with each other to perform a paymenttransaction pursuant to some embodiments of the present invention. Eachof the transaction processes begin when a customer (who participates inthe payment system of the present invention) is done shopping or isotherwise ready to make a purchase at a point of sale. For example, theprocesses may begin once a customer has selected goods or services topurchase and has taken them to a point of sale to purchase them. Thepoint of sale may be a checkout lane at a retail store, an electronicshopping cart at an ecommerce store, a clerk or waiter at a restaurant,a gas station pump, or the like, or it may be one person using thepresent invention to pay another person.

Reference is first made to FIG. 4, where a transaction process 400 isshown. The process of FIG. 4 is generally presented from the perspectiveof a merchant. For example, transaction process 400 may be performed byor at a merchant 208 and may be performed using software or systemsassociated with a merchant 208 such as, for example, merchant system 209and point of sale device 212, and more particularly, pursuant to someembodiments, where the point of sale device 212 includes or is an NFC,Bluetooth, or other wireless reader. Processing begins at 402 where thegoods or services are rung up to total the purchase. Processingcontinues at 404 where the point of sale device 212 (or the clerk)prompts the customer to select a payment option, and a determination ismade whether a mobile payment option is selected. If the mobile paymentoption is not selected, processing continues at 406 where standardpayment processing or processing to complete the purchase using anotherpayment option occurs.

If the mobile payment option is selected, processing continues at 408where the merchant system 209 receives a checkout token from the mobiledevice via an NFC communication between the mobile device 202 and an NFCreader associated with the point of sale device 212. The NFC reader mayreceive the checkout token (and other information from the mobile device202) pursuant to an NFC payment scheme, such as pursuant to Visa®Paywave, MasterCard® PayPass, Discover® Zip, or other NFC communicationschemes, such as those supported or promoted by American Express®,Softcard®, or the like. Further, the NFC reader may receive the checkouttoken using NFC passthrough mode, a mode for interacting with an NFCreader where a mobile device can interact with a custom application onan NFC reader to facilitate data interchange between the mobile device202 and the NFC reader. The data transmission between the mobile device202 and the NFC reader may comply with other standards, such as the NFCData Exchange Format (“NDEF”) available at www.nfc-forum.org, or thelike.

The checkout token and other associated information may be presented tothe point of sale device 212 using any one of the common NFC paymentschemes, including the Visa Paywave scheme, the Mastercard PayPassscheme, the Discover Zip scheme, American Express' ExpressPay scheme,the Google Wallet scheme, or using the so-called “NFC Pass-throughmode”, a mode for interacting with an NFC payment terminal where amobile device can interact with a custom application on the paymentterminal supporting Pass-through mode to facilitate data interchangebetween the mobile device and the payment terminal. Such an approachprovides a number of desirable benefits. For example, when the NFCreader is activated it starts to poll for an NFC supported card oremulated card (e.g. mobile device) when the reader detects a card itwill request an Application Identifier (AID) from the emulated card.When leveraging pass-through mode, the reader can receive an AIDspecifically assigned to the issuer of the payment application on themobile device and the point of sale device 212 (or merchant systems) candrive specific business logic for the purposes of routing the datatransmitted from the mobile device to the appropriate system. Thisapproach can be used without impacting current schemes like PayWave,Zip, and PayPass as well. If the initial AID returned is not recognized,the NFC terminal will then fail over to one of the existing NFC schemesused for traditional NFC payments that may not be related to the schemeassigned to the payment application invoked by the user. In someembodiments, existing NFC schemes may be leveraged pursuant to thepresent invention by properly encoding the checkout token data and tocreate a mobile application that would pass an AID that is expected perthe “common NFC schemes” listed above for the purposes of transmittingthe checkout token data. By properly formatting the checkout token inthis manner, the data can be made available to the appropriate system(POS, Switch, Payment Processor, etc) via an existing NFC scheme afterread record event.

In some embodiments, the checkout token is received by the NFC reader ina field of a standard NFC message format, such as in a field designatedfor carrying information such as a PAN. As described further herein, thecheckout token, in some embodiments, may be formatted as a PAN, allowingthe merchant system 209 to process the message using standard processingmethods (e.g., without requiring additional or modified software). Forexample, in some embodiments, the checkout token may be presented in themessage received over the NFC communication link as a 16 digit PAN whichmay then be used to identify that the transaction is a mobile paymenttransaction pursuant to the present invention and to route a merchantpayment authorization request message to the transaction managementsystem 230.

In some embodiments, the checkout token information is used to make arouting determination at 410 to transmit and route a merchant paymentauthorization request (including, for example, the checkout token, thetransaction amount and other transaction data) to a transactionmanagement system 230. In some embodiments, the routing determinationmay be made by the point of sale device 212 or other components of themerchant system 209 such as a merchant payment switch.

Many merchants 208 operate one or more payment switches to routedifferent types of transactions (such as credit, debit, gift, loyalty,and stored value card transactions) to different authorization entities.Pursuant to some embodiments, a merchant payment switch may receive theinformation obtained by the NFC reader and use information in themessage (including the checkout token) as an identifier to route thetransaction involving the mobile device to the transaction managementsystem. For example, the checkout token may be formatted as a PAN, andthe merchant payment switch, upon receiving a transaction involving thecheckout token, could determine that the checkout token (e.g., formattedas a PAN) has a format or a value such that the transaction should berouted to a particular transaction management system 230. Examples ofmerchant payment switches include those provided by ACI Worldwide, Inc.,including its Base24 payment switch. The merchant payment switch (orother device or system used to make the routing decision of the presentinvention) may be an on-premises component (located at the merchantlocation) or it may be a hosted component (located remote from themerchant location). The merchant payment switch (or other device orsystem used to make the routing decision of the present invention) mayalso be performed by another entity (such as, for example, a merchantacquirer processor, a payment network, a gateway provider, or the like).

Use of the merchant's payment switch to route the transaction to thetransaction management system 230 provides a number of desirablebenefits. For example, a payment switch typically receives authorizationrequest messages from a point of sale system or payment terminal 212,and then formats the authorization request in the format appropriate fora particular authorization entity, typically including a PAN or otherpayment account identifier to be used by the authorizing entity todetermine which payment account should be used to pay the merchant 208for the transaction. For example, the authorization message for a giftcard transaction may be formatted differently than the authorizationmessage for a credit card transaction. Given that the authorizationentity for a gift card transaction may be different than theauthorization entity for a credit card transaction, the payment switchalso handles all of the details around delivering the message to theappropriate authorization entity, including but not limited to securitycredentials to pass to the authorizing entity, merchant identifiers toassociate the transaction with a particular merchant, as well as thecommunication technology to use to deliver the authorization message,which could be TCP/IP, dialup, or other communication technologies.

In addition, the payment switch is also typically responsible forcreating and managing reporting and settlement information so that themerchant 208 can keep track of the payment instruments that were used topay for the goods associated with a particular in store purchasetransaction. The payment switch might create a report specifying thatfor point of sale transaction 123 on Mar. 5, 2015 at store number 12,Visa credit card number 1111333355557777 with expiration of 2/18 wasused to pay for the transaction, or that for transaction 124, merchantgift card number 0000222244446666 was used to pay for the transaction.

As a result, in embodiments where a merchant's payment switch is used tomake the routing determination of the present invention, although thePAN used as a checkout token might conform to the specification for apayment card PAN (such as a debit card PAN or a credit card PAN),ultimately the authorization for the payment may be completed using acompletely different payment account identifier than the PAN used forthe checkout token. This may be the case because the payment switch uponreading the PAN—say it is 4111333355557777 which could be a PAN for aVISA credit card—might discover that this PAN falls within the range ofPANs designated for use with the present invention, and that the PAN andall information associated with the PAN including pending transactiondetails should be routed to the transaction management system 230.

The merchant payment switch (or other components or systems associatedwith the merchant 208) use the checkout token (as well as othertransaction data from the point of sale device 212) to create andtransmit a merchant payment authorization request at 410, including thecheckout token received from the mobile device 202, a transactionamount, and other transaction data (such as a terminal identifier, date,time, enhanced transaction data, etc.) to a transaction managementsystem 230 (e.g., via a network such as network 220). The merchantpayment authorization request is then used by the transaction managementsystem 230 (as will be described further below in conjunction with FIG.6), to create a pending transaction in a merchant transaction queue.

Processing at the merchant 208 continues at 412 where the merchantsystem 209 receives a merchant payment authorization response messagefrom the transaction management system 230. The merchant paymentauthorization response message is generated by the transactionmanagement system 230 after certain customer-related processing steps(described in FIG. 5) and certain transaction management system-relatedprocessing steps (described in FIG. 6) have been completed, and afterone or more payment accounts selected by the customer (using theirmobile device 202) or one or more payment accounts selected by thetransaction management system 230 through a rule or preference have beenauthorized for the purchase transaction. Processing continues at 414where the merchant system 209 is operated to cause the generation of atransaction receipt to complete the transaction.

Of note in the merchant processing described above is that at no point,in some embodiments, does the customer provide actual payment accountdata to the merchant 208. Those skilled in the art, upon reading thisdisclosure, will appreciate that such a process has desirable fraud andother benefits.

Pursuant to some embodiments, the process of FIG. 4 (and similarly, forFIGS. 5 and 6) may be modified to allow the merchant to transmit amerchant payment authorization request before the transaction total hasbeen calculated. Such an embodiment generally proceeds as follows.First, at the beginning of every new checkout event, the merchanttransmits a merchant payment authorization request to the transactionmanagement system 230. This merchant payment authorization requestcontains information identifying the checkout token received from themobile device 202, the merchant 208 and, in some embodiments, a point ofsale terminal identifier and/or a unique transaction identifier, but itcontains no amount due information, as the clerk has either not yetstarted to ring up the goods, or is in the middle of ringing up thegoods. In response to this merchant payment authorization request, thetransaction management system 230 updates information in a pendingtransaction queue or record associated with the checkout token, awaitingfurther transaction information from the merchant 208.

Such embodiments allow the transaction management system 230 to retrievethe customer's available payment accounts that are appropriate for themerchant and customer based on any available rules.

Further, in some embodiments, by transmitting the merchant paymentauthorization request early in a transaction (before calculation of atransaction total), the transaction management system 230 has anopportunity to provide any relevant offers, coupons or loyaltyincentives to the customer. For example, if the customer has registeredher loyalty credentials with a particular merchant (such as the exampleintroduced above, where Jane shops at Starbucks frequently), then beforethe total amount due is displayed, the merchant may want to cause anoffer or promotion on the customer's mobile device that are appropriatefor or tailored to the specific customer. This allows for advertisingand promotional offers to be displayed to the customer before theyfinish the checkout process.

In general, a transaction process in which the merchant paymentauthorization request message is generated prior to the calculation of atotal amount due proceeds as follows. First, the merchant paymentauthorization request message (including the checkout token receivedfrom the mobile device 202) is generated and transmitted to thetransaction management system 230. The request does not include thetotal amount due (but includes the checkout token and informationidentifying the merchant and/or the point of sale terminal or checkoutlane). The transaction management system 230 updates a pendingtransaction record associated with the checkout token.

The transaction management system 230 matches the information (using,for example, the checkout token) with the pending transaction data(which, at this point in the transaction, may simply include informationidentifying the customer). The transaction management system 230 returnsinformation to the mobile device 202 including information identifyingthe merchant and possibly a list of available payment accounts (but noamount due as it has not yet been communicated to the system 230). Anytargeted offers or advertisements may also be delivered to the mobiledevice at this time. While the customer is waiting for the transactiontotal, a message may be displayed on the mobile device 202 informing herthat the device is “waiting for an amount due” (or similar message).After the merchant calculates the transaction total, the merchanttransmits the total in an updated merchant payment authorization requestmessage to the transaction management system 230. The system 230 usesthis information to update the pending transaction record and thencauses a message to be transmitted to the mobile device 202 to updatethe mobile device 202 with the total amount due (and may also includeinformation about a list of available payment accounts that may be usedin the transaction). The mobile device 202 may be updated to display thetotal as well as any loyalty savings (if any were earned in thetransaction) as well as the list of available payment accounts. Thecustomer then selects her desired payment account(s) to complete thetransaction as normal. Those skilled in the art will appreciate thatother modifications may be made to some or all of the processes shownherein to achieve different transaction flows.

Reference is now made to FIG. 5, where a further transaction process 500is shown. The process 500 is shown from the perspective of a customeroperating a mobile device. For example, transaction process 500 includesa number of steps that may be performed by a customer operating a mobiledevice (such as the device 202 of FIG. 2) to complete transactionspursuant to the present invention. As described above, the process 500may be performed in conjunction with the process 400 performed by themerchant 208. Processing begins at 502 where a customer who is aparticipant in the mobile payment program of the present inventionlaunches a mobile payment application on their mobile device 202. Themobile payment application may be an “app” or computer program codestored on the mobile device 202, or, in some embodiments, the mobilepayment application may be accessed by pointing a Web browser associatedwith the mobile device 202 to a Web page associated with a mobilepayment application over the Internet, or by moving the phone inproximity to a payment terminal device such as an NFC payment terminalor Bluetooth enabled payment terminal associated with the point of saledevice 212. For the remainder of this discussion of process 500, it willbe assumed that the mobile payment application is an application storedon the mobile device 202 (but such discussion is not intended to limitthe application of the present invention to such an embodiment).

Processing continues at 504 where the customer is prompted to enterauthentication information. For example, the customer may be prompted toenter information such as a user identifier, a password, a biometricidentifier such as a fingerprint, iris scan or voiceprint, or othercredentials into the mobile device 202. Processing at 504 may alsoinclude collecting or generating device-related information for use inauthenticating the customer. The customer authentication information, aswell as any device-related information, may be transmitted to thetransaction management system 230 (e.g., over a network 201) forauthentication by the transaction management system 230 (as describedfurther below in conjunction with FIG. 6). In some embodiments,authentication may occur locally on the mobile device 202. Adetermination is made at 506 whether the authentication passed or failed(e.g., based on a response received from the transaction managementsystem 230). If the authentication failed, processing may continue at508 where the customer is informed of the failure and is either promptedto use a different form of payment or to reattempt the authenticationprocess.

Processing continues at 510 if the authentication processing issuccessful (that is, if the customer and the device have successfullybeen identified by the transaction management system 230), where thetransaction management system 230 assigns, generates or otherwiseprovides a checkout token for use in the transaction to the mobiledevice 202. In some embodiments, the checkout token may be partially orfully generated under control of the mobile application in response toinformation provided by the transaction management system 230. In someembodiments, the checkout token may be generated and delivered to themobile device 202 at any time in advance of the customer conducting anactual transaction, and the checkout token in these embodiments would bestored on the mobile device 202. Processing at 510 may also includeprocessing by the transaction management system 230 to create a pendingtransaction record in a transaction queue for use in conducting thetransaction.

Processing continues at 512 where the customer presents (or “taps”) themobile device 202 to an NFC reader at the merchant 208. Pursuant to someembodiments, information is transmitted from the mobile device 202 tothe NFC reader over an NFC communication interface, and the informationmay include the checkout token. In some embodiments, the checkout tokenis passed to the NFC reader in a message formatted pursuant to an NFCpayment scheme (such as the Visa® Paywave, Discover® “Zip”, or theMasterCard® PayPass schemes). Further, in some embodiments, the checkouttoken may be formatted as a PAN and passed in a field of a messagetypically used for a PAN in a payment transaction (although as discussedherein, the checkout token may be formatted in other ways and includedin other fields of a message).

Processing continues at 514 where the mobile device 202 receives thetransaction details and, in some embodiments, a list of availablepayment accounts from the transaction management system 230. Forexample, at 514, the mobile device 202 may receive a message including anumber of data elements, including data associated with the currenttransaction (such as the transaction total, the merchant name andinformation, and other transaction details) as well as data identifyingthe customer's payment account(s) that may be used for the currenttransaction, and information about the order in which the paymentaccounts should be presented to the customer, as well as marketingmessages or advertisements that might be displayed in proximity to thepayment account information. The data identifying the customer's paymentaccount(s) may include proxies or non-sensitive identifiers used by thetransaction management system 230 to identify each account (rather thanthe actual payment credentials). Further, the data may includeinformation about current account balances, loyalty programs, discounts,marketing messages, or the like associated with one or more of theavailable payment accounts, or associated with the overall mobile walletaccount.

Processing continues at 516 where the mobile device 202, under controlof the mobile application, presents the transaction details and enhancedpayment account choice(s) to the customer on a display screen of themobile device 202. For example, if the customer (during the registrationprocess 300) provided information about one or more payment accounts,the customer may be given the opportunity to select which one(s) ofthose accounts are to be used in the current transaction. For example,the customer may be presented with a display of options such as shown inFIG. 8A. In some embodiments, the display of options may includeinformation about the status of each of the available accounts (e.g.,such as the balance, the current interest rate, any current rewards, anycard linked offers associated with an account, or loyalty points, etc.)so that the customer may select the most appropriate account or set ofaccounts for use in the current transaction. In some embodiments, theactual payment account information is not stored in the mobile device;instead, a non-confidential or non-sensitive identifier is used toidentify the account (where the actual account number is stored at theremote transaction management system 230). In some embodiments, thecustomer may select to split the transaction among two or more paymentaccounts.

Pursuant to some embodiments, the payment accounts available for use inthe payment transaction are displayed in a priority or preference orderbased on any combination of: (i) rules or preferences established by thecustomer (e.g., such as the rules or preferences defined by the customerat 308 of FIG. 3 during a registration process), (ii) rules orpreferences established by the merchant, (iii) rules or preferencesestablished by the issuer of a payment account, and (iv) rules orpreferences established by the transaction management system operator. Ahierarchy or ordering of rules or preferences and their priorities maybe specified to ensure that there are no conflicts between rules orpreferences.

In some embodiments, the payment accounts available for use in thetransaction are displayed in order based on one or more rulesestablished by the merchant or based on the identity of the merchant208. For example, the transaction management system may determine theidentity of the merchant based on information received from the merchant208 and may then determine if any merchant-specific rules have beenestablished. Examples of merchant specific rules may include rulesregarding interchange (e.g., such as rules which allow the merchant toreduce interchange by requiring PIN entry for debit cards, etc), orpresenting payment accounts in a top to bottom order where the topaccount is the one that when used by the customer results in themerchant paying the smallest interchange fee, and the bottom account isthe one that when used by the customer results in the merchant payingthe highest interchange fee. Merchant specific rules may also includerules specifying that merchant-controlled payment types (such as privatelabel credit cards, gift cards, etc.) are to be displayed with a higherpreference than other available payment types.

In some embodiments, the display of available payment accounts may alsoinvolve the application of one or more rules established by an operatorof the transaction management system 230. For example, in someembodiments, the transaction management system operator may becompensated (e.g., by issuers or sponsors) to display certain paymentaccount types with a higher priority. Those skilled in the art, uponreading this disclosure, will recognize that other types andcombinations of rules and preferences may be applied to display a listof available payment accounts to a customer during transactions of thepresent invention.

Processing continues at 518 where the customer interacts with the mobiledevice 202 (e.g., via a touch screen display or the like) to select adesired payment account (or payment accounts in the case of a splittender transaction) to use for the current transaction. In someembodiments, the customer may be presented with a confirmation screen at518 where the customer is prompted to confirm the transaction details(including the merchant, the transaction amount and the selected paymentaccount(s)). An example of such a confirmation screen and transactiondetails is shown at FIG. 8B. Once one or more payment accounts have beenselected for use, processing continues at 520 where a customer paymentauthorization request message is transmitted to the transactionmanagement system 230 for processing. In some embodiments, the messageincludes data such as information identifying the selected paymentaccount(s) as well as the transaction amount. In cases such as finedining (or transactions of the sort involving the addition of a tip orfurther amount after an initial transaction total has been generated),the present invention may allow the customer to change the transactionamount to include a tip amount for service, requiring that thetransaction amount be updated by the customer. The transactionmanagement system 230 receives the message and processes it as describedbelow in conjunction with FIG. 6. If the transaction is successful(e.g., the transaction management system 230 is able to use the selectedpayment accounts to obtain a payment authorization from the institutionsassociated with the accounts), processing continues at 522 where themobile device 202 receives a transaction complete message. Examples ofsuch a message are shown below in FIG. 8D.

Reference is now made to FIG. 6, where a further transaction process 600is shown. The process 600 generally shows steps from the perspective ofthe processing performed by the transaction management system (e.g., thetransaction process 600 includes a number of steps that may be performedby a transaction management system, such as the system 230 of FIG. 2, orby systems or components related to a transaction management system tocomplete transactions pursuant to the present invention). As describedabove, the process 600 may be performed in conjunction with the process400 performed by the merchant 208 and process 500 performed by a mobiledevice 202. Processing begins at 602 where the transaction managementsystem 230 receives a customer authentication request from a customeroperating a mobile device 202 pursuant to the present invention. Asdiscussed in conjunction with items 502-506 of FIG. 5, the transactionmanagement system 230 and the mobile device 202 interact to determinewhether the customer can be authenticated. If so, processing continuesat 608 where an authentication response is transmitted to the mobiledevice 202. Processing continues at 610 where the transaction managementsystem 230 generates (or causes to be generated or assigned) a checkouttoken. The checkout token is associated with a pending transactionrecord in a transaction queue of the transaction management system 230awaiting further information about the transaction (e.g., includinginformation from the merchant and the mobile device as will be describedfurther below). The checkout token is transmitted to the mobile device202 for use by the mobile payment application. In some embodiments, oneor more of steps 602, 608 and 610 may be combined. In some embodimentsthe delivery of one or more checkout token to the mobile device 202could happen in advance of any payment transaction being conducted thecustomer, and the checkout tokens could be stored on the mobile deviceand one or more pending transaction records would be created in thetransaction management system 230.

Processing continues at 612 where the transaction management system 230receives a merchant payment request message from a merchant 208 involvedin a transaction with the mobile device 202 (e.g., after the mobiledevice 202 was presented at an NFC reader associated with the merchant).The merchant payment request message 208 includes information associatedwith the transaction, including the checkout token and other transactiondetails. The pending transaction record associated with the transactionis updated in the transaction queue to include the information receivedin the merchant payment request message. In some embodiments, themerchant payment authorization request may include transaction data(such as merchant identifier, a time stamp, terminal identifier,purchase details, or the like) and an optional amount due (the“transaction amount”). The merchant payment authorization request isreceived from a merchant 208 based on a transaction conducted by acustomer who has selected to use a mobile payment option pursuant to thepresent invention. In some embodiments, the information received isinserted into a merchant transaction queue. In some embodiments, themerchant transaction queue is a queue that contains a set of “pending”or unmatched transactions that have been initiated at merchantlocations. In some embodiments, merchant payment authorization requestdata stays in the queue until matched with a customer paymentauthorization request received from a customer operating a mobiledevice. In some embodiments, a merchant payment authorization requestmay “time out” or expire if a matching customer payment authorizationrequest is not received within a certain timeframe. In otherembodiments, the merchant payment authorization requests in the merchanttransaction queue may not be sent to the transaction management system;instead, they may reside on a server at the merchant location or someother location, and the transaction management system may have access tothese merchant payment authorization requests so that it can matchcustomer payment authorization requests received from mobile deviceswith the merchant payment authorization requests residing on the serverat the merchant's location.

Processing continues at 614 where the transaction management system 230determines payment account (and any loyalty or offer data) suitable oravailable for use by the customer in the transaction with the merchantand transmits the information to the mobile device 202. At 616, thetransaction management system 230 receives a customer paymentauthorization request message from the mobile device 202. The messagemay include information identifying a selection of an available paymentaccount from the customer (or, in some embodiments, may simply include aconfirmation from the customer to proceed, e.g., with a default or otherpayment account).

In some embodiments, the transaction management system 230 receives themerchant payment authorization request message (at 612) first, and laterreceives a customer payment authorization request message (at 616).However, in some embodiments, a two-step process may be performed inwhich a merchant first transmits a merchant payment authorizationrequest (even prior to totaling a transaction for a customer) and thendoing an “update” to the merchant payment authorization request messagewhen the total has been calculated. The customer may, in suchembodiments, be presented with a message informing them that the systemis “waiting for a total” on their mobile device along with the targetedoffers. Once the total is calculated, the merchant systems send anupdate to the merchant payment authorization request to the transactionmanagement system which includes the total transaction amount, and thenthe customers' mobile display would be updated to show the transactiondetails and the list of payment accounts with all rules applied.

The transaction information (including merchant name and location andthe transaction amount, for example) and the available payment accountinformation, are transmitted to the customer's mobile device 202 at 614.Processing continues at 616 where the system 230 receives a customerpayment authorization request message which includes the customer'sselected payment account(s) for use in completing the transaction. At618, the system 230 uses the payment account information received at 616to lookup the actual payment credentials associated with the account(s)identified by the customer. The actual payment credentials may be storedin a system accessible to the transaction management system 230 which isPCI compliant (e.g., which securely stores and protects the actualpayment credentials). At 620, the actual payment credentials are used toobtain payment transaction authorization from the appropriate paymentnetwork and/or financial institution. The payment authorization responseis then sent to the merchant as well as to the customer at 622 tocomplete the transaction.

In this manner, embodiments allow payment processing to occur where thecustomer does not need to reveal payment account information to amerchant. Further, the customer is able to use a mobile device tocomplete the transaction. No card need be presented, nor does anycustomer information need to be transmitted over unsecured networks.Further, the customer can select from a number of different paymentaccount types and may even create split transactions (where differentaccount types are used in the same transaction).

To illustrate some embodiments of the transaction flow described above,an illustrative example will be provided. In the illustrative example, acustomer has installed a payment application pursuant to the presentinvention on her NFC enabled mobile device, and wishes to make apurchase at a merchant that has an NFC reader at the point of sale. Themerchant rings up the goods on a point of sale device, and prompts thecustomer to select a payment option. One of the available paymentoptions is to pay with an NFC enabled mobile device. The customerselects this option, and interacts with the mobile payment applicationon the mobile device to obtain a checkout token. Once the checkout tokenis obtained by the mobile device, the customer is prompted to “tap” orpresent the NFC enabled mobile device to the NFC reader. By tapping orpresenting the NFC enabled mobile device to the NFC reader, the checkouttoken is passed to the merchant systems. The merchant then creates apayment authorization request (including the checkout token) and causesthe request message to be routed to the transaction management system.The transaction management system uses the checkout token to identify apending transaction record (which allows the transaction managementsystem to identify the customer) and determines one or more availablepayment accounts (and, if appropriate, any offers or loyalty programs)available for the customer's use in the transaction. Transaction details(including information identifying the available payment accounts andoffers) are transmitted to the mobile device and the customer selects tocomplete the transaction (which may include, if appropriate, a selectionof one or more available payment accounts and offers). The transactionmanagement system then retrieves the actual payment account credentialsassociated with the selected accounts and obtains a paymentauthorization using the actual credentials. Once a successfulauthorization has been obtained, a confirmation is sent to the merchantand to the customer.

Reference is now made to FIG. 7, where a block diagram is showndepicting components of a mobile device 700 pursuant to someembodiments. As depicted, the mobile device 700 includes a number ofcomponents which may be controlled or perform functions in conjunctionwith one more application programs 710-712 to perform the features ofsome embodiments.

The mobile device 700 can include a memory interface 702 one or moredata processors, image processors and/or central processing units 704,and a peripherals interface 706. The memory interface 702, the one ormore processors 704 and/or the peripherals interface 706 can be separatecomponents or can be integrated in one or more integrated circuits. Thevarious components in the mobile device 700 can be coupled by one ormore communication buses or signal lines.

Sensors, devices and subsystems can be coupled to the peripheralsinterface 706 to facilitate multiple functionalities. For example, oneor more sensors, including a biometrics sensor 714, an accelerometer716, a photoelectric device 718, a proximity sensor 720, a camera 722, awireless communication unit 724, an audio unit 726 and a magnetometer728 may be provided to facilitate the collection, use and interactionwith data and information and to achieve the functions of the paymentapplications described herein. For example, when provided, themagnetometer 728 may be used to calculate a position of the mobiledevice 700 in space, allowing improved capturing of checkout tokens.

The mobile device 700 may include one or more input/output (I/O) devices730 and/or sensor devices. For example, input controllers 734 may beprovided with a speaker and a microphone (not shown) to facilitatevoice-enabled functionalities, such as phone and voice mail functions.In some implementations, a loud speaker can be included to facilitatehands-free voice functionalities, such as speaker phone functions. Anaudio jack can also be included for use of headphones and/or amicrophone.

The I/O subsystem 730 can include a touch screen controller 732 and/orother input controller(s) 734. The touch-screen controller 732 can becoupled to a touch screen 736. The touch screen 736 and touch screencontroller 732 can, for example, detect contact and movement or breakthereof using any of a plurality of touch sensitivity technologies,including but not limited to capacitive, resistive, infrared, andsurface acoustic wave technologies, as well as other proximity sensorarrays or other elements for determining one or more points of contactwith the touch screen 736.

The other input controller(s) 734 can be coupled to other input/controldevices 738, such as one or more buttons, rocker switches, thumb-wheel,infrared port, USB port, and/or a pointer device such as a stylus. Theone or more buttons (not shown) can include an up/down button for volumecontrol of the speaker and/or the microphone.

In some implementations, a proximity sensor 720 can be included tofacilitate the detection of the customer positioning the mobile device700 proximate to a point of sale terminal or display and, in response,to activate the camera or other reader to detect or capture an image ofa checkout token.

Other sensors can also be used. For example, in some implementations, aphotoelectric device 718 may be provided to facilitate adjusting thebrightness of the touch-screen display 738. In some implementations, anaccelerometer 716 can be utilized to detect movement of the mobiledevice 700, and a magnetometer can also be used to help detect theposition of the mobile device. In some embodiments, the mobile device700 may include circuitry and sensors for supporting a locationdetermining capability, such as that provided by the global positioningsystem (GPS) or other positioning system (e.g., systems using Wi-Fiaccess points, television signals, cellular grids, cellular towers, orUniform Resource Locators (URLs)). In some implementations, apositioning system (e.g., a GPS receiver) can be integrated into themobile device 700 or provided as a separate device that can be coupledto the mobile device 700 through a peripherals interface 706 to provideaccess to location-based services. The positioning and location-basedservices may be used, for example, to tag data transmitted from themobile device 700 to transaction management systems. For example, suchlocation data may be used to further identify the identity of a merchantwhich the customer is interacting with during a payment transaction, andmay also be used to assist in fraud detection by insuring that themobile device is in close proximity to the point of sale locationspecified in the information received in or derived from a merchantpayment authorization request.

The mobile device 700 can also include a camera lens and sensor 722. Insome implementations, the camera lens and sensor 722 can be located onthe back surface of the mobile device 700, or on the front surface. Thecamera can capture still images and/or video, and could be used as ascanner and to enable biometric access to a payment application on thephone, by verifying eye iris or retinal patterns or fingerprints. Insome embodiments, separate subsystems such as a fingerprint scanner oreye scanner may be provided. The camera may be used, for example, tocapture or capture images of a checkout token associated with a merchantpoint of sale location. In some embodiments, the operation of the camera722 may be controlled by a payment application installed on the mobiledevice 700. As a specific example, when the payment application isactivated to make a purchase transaction, the camera 722 may be placedin a ready mode of operation so that as soon as the camera lens andsensor 722 are placed proximate to a checkout token, the camera lens andsensor 722 may be operated to capture an image of the checkout token foruse in the payment application.

The mobile device 700 can also include one or more wirelesscommunication subsystems 724, such as an 802.11b/g communication device,RFID, NFC, and/or a Bluetooth® or Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)communication device. Other communication protocols can also besupported, including other 802.x communication protocols (e.g., WiMax,Wi-Fi), code division multiple access (CDMA), global system for mobilecommunications (GSM), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), 3G (e.g.,EV-DO, UMTS, HSDPA,), 4G, LTE, etc.

In some implementations, additional sensors or subsystems may be coupledto the peripherals interface 706 via connectors such as, for example aUniversal Serial Bus (USB) port, or a docking port, or some other wiredport connection.

The memory interface 702 can be coupled to memory 708. The memory 708can include high-speed random access memory and/or non-volatile memory,such as one or more magnetic disk storage devices, one or more opticalstorage devices, and/or flash memory (e.g., NAND, NOR). The memory 708can store an operating system, such as Android, IOS from Apple, Darwin,RTXC, LINUX, UNIX, OS X, WINDOWS, or an embedded operating system suchas VxWorks. The operating system may include instructions for handlingbasic system services and for performing hardware dependent tasks. Insome implementations, the operating system can be a kernel (e.g., UNIXkernel).

The memory 708 may also store application programs 710-712 which act, inconjunction with the processors 704, to cause the mobile device tooperate to perform certain functions, including the payment applicationrelated functions described herein.

The memory 708 can also store data, including but not limited todocuments, images (including payment account card images and imagescontaining advertisements and offers), video files, audio files, andother data. The mobile device 700 may be configured to operate using anumber of different operating systems and to communicate using a numberof different communications networks. Those skilled in the art willappreciate that the mobile device 700 may be sized as a handheld mobilephone, or other portable device such as a tablet computer or the like.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 8A-8D which depict a number ofillustrative user interfaces that may be presented to a user operating amobile device (such as the mobile device 202 of FIG. 2) on a displayscreen of the device (such as the display 236 of FIG. 2) so that thecustomer can conduct payment transactions using features of embodimentsof the present invention. Each of the customer interfaces are shown asbeing displayed on an NFC enabled mobile device—those skilled in the artwill appreciate that similar user interfaces may be displayed on othermobile devices.

Referring now to FIG. 8A, a user interface is shown on a display device836 of a mobile device 802. In the user interface of FIG. 8A, thecustomer has obtained a checkout token and authenticated to thetransaction management system (and has provided the checkout token to anNFC reader of a merchant), and has received a response message from atransaction management system (such as the system 230 of FIG. 2) withdetails of the payment transaction that the customer is about tocomplete. In particular, the transaction management system has returneddetailed transaction information about the purchase transaction,including merchant information and the purchase amount (shown as item842). The user interface also shows the customer a number of availablepayment options 844 a-n. The available payment options 844 a-n may beshown in the order of preference or desirability based on, for example,customer preferences or rules established by the customer (e.g.,pursuant to the process described above in conjunction with FIG. 3 orthe like), by the merchant, or by the payment system operator. Forexample, as shown, a private label credit card is displayed as the first(or top-most) payment account 844 a. Information about each of thepayment accounts 844 may be displayed, including the current availablebalance as well as any reward, loyalty or other benefits associated withusing that particular payment account in the current transaction.

In the user interface of FIG. 8A, the customer may select which of theavailable payment accounts 844 a-n to use by simply clicking on theportion of the screen associated with the available payment account 844a-n desired. In some embodiments, further information about eachavailable payment account may be viewed by clicking on a portion of thedisplay screen. For example, details of each accounts balance, terms andconditions and other information may be viewed. The user interface ofFIG. 8A may be presented to the customer in conjunction with transactionprocessing such as at step 514, 516 of FIG. 5.

Referring now to FIG. 8B, an (optional) further user interface is shownagain on a display device 836 of a mobile device 802. The user interfaceof FIG. 8B is an optional interface (in some embodiments, a user may godirectly from the interface of FIG. 8A or FIG. 8B to obtaining anauthorization, such as in the case where the user has specified a single“default” payment account to use for all transactions. In this case theuser may choose to not be presented with the interface of FIG. 8A, andwould instead go directly to obtaining an authorization.). In the userinterface of FIG. 8B, the customer has selected which payment account touse and has been presented with a screen to confirm the payment detailsusing the selected payment account. The user interface may display, forexample, transaction details 846 and a confirmation button 848. Thetransaction details show the detailed transaction information receivedby the mobile device 802 from the transaction management system. Forexample, the user interface of FIG. 8B may be displayed after thecustomer has selected a desired payment account, and immediately priorto the transmission of a message to the transaction management system(e.g., such as at step 520 of FIG. 5).

Referring now to FIG. 8C, a further user interface is shown, again on adisplay device 836 of a mobile device 802. In the user interface of FIG.8C the customer has confirmed the purchase (e.g., by selecting “Confirm”848 on FIG. 8B or by tapping on one of the payment accounts 844 a-n inFIG. 8A, or by having specified a default payment instrument to use forall transactions), and the payment message has been transmitted to thetransaction management system. The user interface of FIG. 8C shows thecustomer the details 850 of the just-completed transaction including anyloyalty rewards, rebate amount or the like earned from the transaction(shown at 854 as a savings amount). The user interface also shows aregion 856 where coupons, advertisements, or other offers sourced fromadvertising and offer management networks may be presented to thecustomer. Once the customer is done viewing the transaction details, thecustomer may click on a button 852 to navigate away from the screen andto return to the home page of the payment application or to a thank youpage such as the page 858 shown in the user interface of FIG. 8D.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that other user interfaces,messages and screens may be used to present payment options, transactioninformation and other details to a user of a mobile payment applicationpursuant to the present invention.

The above descriptions of processes herein should not be considered toimply a fixed order for performing the process steps. Rather, theprocess steps may be performed in any order that is practicable,including simultaneous performance of at least some steps.

Although the present invention has been described in connection withspecific exemplary embodiments, it should be understood that variouschanges, substitutions, and alterations apparent to those skilled in theart can be made to the disclosed embodiments without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for operating a mobile device to performa transaction between a customer and a merchant, where the mobile deviceis operated by the customer to initiate transaction processing, themethod comprising: obtaining a checkout token associated with thetransaction; causing the checkout token to be communicated to themerchant over a near field communication (“NFC”) communication link foruse in communication between the merchant and the transaction managementsystem associated with the transaction; receiving, from said transactionmanagement system, information associated with said payment transaction;and transmitting, to said transaction management system, a messageincluding information for use in completing said transaction.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said checkout token is or includes anidentifier usable by said merchant to route an authorization requestmessage to at least one of said transaction management system and anentity associated with said transaction management system.
 3. The methodof claim 1, wherein said checkout token is formatted as a paymentaccount number (“PAN”), said PAN usable to identify at least one of saidtransaction management system and an entity associated with saidtransaction management system.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein saidcheckout token is formatted to include at least one of a bankidentification number (“BIN”) and an issuer identification number(“IIN”) usable to identify at least one of said transaction managementsystem and an entity associated with said transaction management system.5. The method of claim 1, wherein said NFC communication link is betweensaid mobile device and an NFC reader associated with said merchant. 6.The method of claim 5, wherein said mobile device transmits saidcheckout token to said NFC reader in accordance with a message protocolof said NFC reader.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein said informationassociated with said transaction received from said transactionmanagement system includes information used by said mobile device toidentify at least one of (i) a transaction amount, (ii) said merchant,and (iii) at least a first account of said customer available for use insaid transaction.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining acheckout token associated with the transaction further comprises:transmitting, to the transaction management system, a request for acheckout token; and receiving said checkout token.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, wherein said obtaining a checkout token associated with thetransaction further comprises at least one of: (i) generating thetransaction token, and (ii) retrieving a stored token.
 10. The method ofclaim 1, wherein said information associated with said paymenttransaction further includes information used by said mobile device toidentify at least a first offer available for use in said transaction.11. A merchant system, comprising: a processor; and a memory incommunication with the processor and storing program instructions, theprocessor operative with the program instructions to: receive, from amobile device over a near field communications (“NFC”) interface, acheckout token; generate a transaction request message including saidcheckout token and transaction details associated with a currenttransaction at said merchant system; transmitting said transactionrequest message to an issuer of said checkout token; and receiving atransaction approval response message from said issuer of said checkouttoken, wherein said issuer of said checkout token is not the issuer of apayment account used in said transaction.
 12. The merchant system ofclaim 11, wherein said checkout token is or includes an identifierusable by said merchant system to route an authorization request messageto at least one of a transaction management system and an entityassociated with said transaction management system.
 13. The merchantsystem of claim 11, wherein said checkout token is formatted as apayment account number (“PAN”), said PAN usable to identify at least oneof a transaction management system and an entity associated with saidtransaction management system.
 14. The merchant system of claim 11,wherein said checkout token is formatted to include at least one of abank identification number (“BIN”) and an issuer identification number(“IIN”) usable to identify at least one of a transaction managementsystem and an entity associated with said transaction management system.15. The merchant system of claim 11, wherein said NFC interface isbetween said mobile device and an NFC reader associated with saidmerchant system.
 16. The merchant system of claim 15, wherein saidmobile device transmits said checkout token to said NFC reader inaccordance with a message protocol of said NFC reader.
 17. A system,comprising: a processor; and a memory in communication with theprocessor and storing program instructions, the processor operative withthe program instructions to: receive, from said merchant, a messagecontaining (i) a checkout token received from a mobile device associatedwith a user via a wireless communication session, and (ii) details of atransaction involving said merchant and said user; receive, from saidmobile device, a transaction confirmation request message; and identify,based on information from said transaction confirmation request message,an actual payment account of said user for use in completing saidtransaction.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein said wirelesscommunication session between said mobile device and said merchant is anNFC communication session.
 19. The system of claim 17, wherein theprocessor is further operative with the program instructions to:receive, from said mobile device operated by said user, a request toinitiate transaction processing associated with a transaction involvingsaid user; and transmit, to said mobile device, a checkout token for usewith said transaction, said checkout token formatted for near fieldcommunication (“NFC”) transmission from said mobile device to saidmerchant associated with said transaction.
 20. The system of claim 17,wherein the processor is further operative with the program instructionsto: determine that said checkout token received from said merchant is avalid checkout token.
 21. The system of claim 20, wherein the processoris further operative with the program instructions to: determine thatsaid checkout token received from said merchant is not associated with apending transaction session; and identify a default payment accountassociated with said user for use in completing said transaction.